Dagestani railway stations to be reconstructed

By Vestnik Kavkaza

In early December, the head of Dagestan Ramazan Abdulatipov and the head of the Directorate of Railway Stations, a branch of Russian Railways, Sergey Obramov, who was also the head of the Chechen government in 2004, signed an agreement for the reconstruction of railway stations in Dagestan. The project also provides for the building of commuting hubs at the railway stations and the reconstruction of areas located near railway stations. It is expected that the construction will feature innovative technologies to provide maximum comfort to travellers. Particular attention will be paid to passengers with disabilities. The project will be co-funded.

“We need this kind of cooperation. The fact that the agreement between Russian Railways and Dagestan was signed today is a very good sign that the republic will be actively developing. For active development one requires good logistics and good transportation to solve transportation problems, Abdulatipov thinks.

According to Sergei Abramov, “almost all the people use the transport infrastructure, and its quality primarily influences the mood. As for the project itself, it is an interesting, difficult task, but it is a noble cause, therefore I am convinced that we will succeed in it.”

There will be a lot of difficulties. RIA Dagestan reports that “in the current financial-economic conditions if the regional administration doesn’t fulfill its liabilities on organization of transport service of the population, it can lead to cease of suburban railway communication in certain districts from 2013. Ridership will be reduced to a volume of paid-up orders in constituents of the South Federal and the North-Caucasus Federal Districts, where no measures on discharging debts will be taken by the regional authorities.”

Several Russian regions actually refuse to compensate shortfall in income of suburban companies from regular rates and don’t provide at least 50% compensation of revenues losses from suburban railway rides. The Krasnodar Krai – 43%; North Ossetia – 38%; Kabardino-Balkaria – 36%; Dagestan – 35%; the Rostov Oblast – 25%; the Stavropol Krai – 25%.

At the same time 8 regions of the country compensate less than 10% of shortfall in income of suburban passenger companies, including Chechnya – 9%.

Today there is a trend of reducing suburban transport use. In 2014 the situation in the North Caucasus may become worse due to intention of several regions (the Stavropol Krai, the Rostov Oblast, the Chechen Republic, Dagestan, North Ossetia) to reduce drastically the volume of financing suburban transportation. The Russian Railways will have to reduce a number of suburban trains in this case.